Ten Dead at the Gate

On Memorial Day, May 30, 1937, a crowd of striking steelworkers, their wives, and their children marched across a field toward the Republic Steel plant on Chicago's Southeast Side. It was part of the Little Steel Strike, a drive to organize the steel industry. The marchers were unarmed. Roughly three hundred Chicago police were waiting.

What Happened on the Field

What began as a confrontation at a police line became a slaughter. Officers opened fire on the crowd, then waded in with clubs. Ten marchers were killed — four on the field that day, six more later of their wounds. Around forty were shot; more than ninety were injured. A number of the dead and wounded had been shot in the back as they fled.

Three hundred armed police. A crowd with no guns. Ten dead.

What It Was Called

In the immediate aftermath, much of the press described it as a riot provoked by the strikers. The suppressed newsreel and the later Senate investigation told a different story: a peaceful, if tense, demonstration met with lethal force. The deaths helped turn public opinion and are remembered today as a turning point in American labor history.

The official record first called it a riot. The film called it something else.